‘West Memphis Three’ freed

JONESBORO, Ark. – Three men convicted in the nightmarish slayings of three Cub Scouts went free Friday, nearly two decades after they were sent to prison in a case so gruesome it raised suspicions the children had been sacrificed in a Satanic ritual.

Doubts about the evidence against the trio had persisted for years and threatened to force prosecutors to put on a second trial in 2012.

Instead, the so-called West Memphis Three were permitted to plead guilty to murder in exchange for time served, ending a long-running legal battle that had raised questions about DNA and key witnesses.

The men entered the pleas under a legal provision that allowed them to maintain their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them.

“Although I am innocent, this plea is in my best interest,” Jessie Misskelley said.

Damien Echols had been on Arkansas’ death row and in 1994 came within three weeks of execution. He remained defiant Friday, accusing prosecutors of using innuendo and faulty evidence to convict them.

In the event of a new trial, “they knew there would be more people watching, more attention on the case, so they wouldn’t be able to pull the same tricks,” Echols said.

Prosecutor Scott Ellington said it would be “practically impossible” to put on a proper trial after 18 years. The mother of a witness who testified about Echols’ confession has publicly questioned her daughter’s truthfulness. And a crime lab employee who collected fiber evidence at two of the defendants’ homes has died.

Since the original jury convictions, two of the victims’ families have joined forces with the defense, declaring that the men are innocent, Ellington said.

The victims’ families were notified about the pact ahead of time but were not asked to approve it.

Echols said he and the others would keep working to clear their names. The men, who were teenagers when they were convicted, have spent half their lives in prison.

Asked by reporters about his plans, Jason Baldwin replied, “Live my life the best I can and enjoy every moment of it.”

Baldwin told reporters he had been reluctant to plead guilty to crimes he didn’t commit, but he agreed to do so to ensure Echols was spared from death row.

Echols thanked Baldwin and called his release “overwhelming.”

“It’s not perfect by any means,” he said of the arrangement.

The prosecutor said he never considered any plea bargain that would throw out the verdicts of two juries.

“Today’s proceeding allows the defendants the freedom of speech to say they are innocent, but the fact is, they just pled guilty,” Ellington said.

By entering guilty pleas, the three have lost any right to file a lawsuit against the state. “I can’t say that wasn’t part of my thinking in resolving this case,” Ellington said.

All three men were placed on 10 years of unsupervised probation.

The killings were particularly ghastly. The 8-year-old boys – Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore – were found naked and hogtied, and rumors of Satanism roiled the community of 30,000 people across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn.

Branch and Moore drowned in a drainage ditch in about 2 feet of water; Byers bled to death, and his genitals were mutilated and partially removed.

Police had few leads until receiving a tip that Echols had been seen covered in mud on the night of the boys’ disappearance. The big break came when Misskelley unexpectedly confessed and implicated the other two.

Misskelley, then 17, later recanted.